This invention relates to a dispersing supply device in an automatic combinatorial weighing apparatus.
A conventional combinatorial type weighing apparatus operates by supplying a plurality of weighing machines with articles to be weighed, the weighing machines being arrayed in a circle about the periphery of a centrally located dispersing table, combining the weight values provided by the weighing machines into a number of different combinations, selecting from among these combinations a so-called "optimum combination" whose total weight value is equal or closest to a predetermined weight, and discharging from the weighing machines only those articles corresponding to the selected optimum combination, thereby providing a batch of the articles having a weight approximately equal to the predetermined weight. Such an automatic weighing apparatus includes radially disposed dispersing supply devices equal in number to the weighing machines for dispersing the articles radially outward from the dispersing table and supplying them to the weighing machines. In the prior art arrangement, each dispersing supply device, which includes a trough and a trough vibrator, is fixedly secured on a mounting base. Accordingly, cleaning the trough or the check and adjustment of the vibrator requires that the device be detached from the mounting base. With the prior-art arrangement, however, detaching and reattaching the dispersing supply device is a very troublesome operation.